Autumn in the Mountains

There is nothing more serene than an autumn drive in the Virginia mountains.  I took the day off on Friday and headed out onto Skyline drive with the kids  - my hubbie decided to join us for the first time this year.  The air was chilly - at 43 degrees is was a whole lot colder than we expected!  But the sky was clear and the sun shining.  Here's a quick layout I put together using last year's Indian Summer line from Basic Grey. Nothing fancy - just using the scraps I had left over from a couple of projects last year.  There was this little bird sticker leftover from the Elements Stickers pack that I gave new tail feathers.  I just love how the tail feathers transform an otherwise plain pink bird in too an awesome peacock!

A Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday we took Zach, Nicky and a friend to Pumpkinville, just outside of Leesburg.  It was a beautiful day!  I took a ton of pictures but this one was especially nice of the three of them searching for the perfect pumpkin.  As I am determined to use the papers and supplies I have been hoarding for the past few years, I put this layout together using last year's Little Yellow Bicycle line "Autumn Bliss" and two new Sissix Dies I bought last weekend on sale at Joann.

I used a craft knife to cut into the paper deisgn to create an overlay. Most of the embellishments, including those really cute leaf brads, are from the Autumn Bliss line of papers.

If I don't use a product line that I buy right away, it seems to sit on a shelf forever and becomes forgotten. Rediscovering this line again was such a pleasant surprise!

Where has the summer gone?

Just as quickly as it came, summer has seemed to vanish into fall.  My ninety-one days are gone - and then some!  But what a busy, memory filled summer it has been.  Lots of work and travel  -  I have been so busy that in fact I have had little time to craft, and scrap!

My big project this summer that seemed to undermine everything else was the redesign of the landscape in our back yard.  Seems I have had constuction workers and Virginia red clay around all summer! But the results are stunning!

I designed and then had built a patio, two new decks, an outdoor living room under a pergola, a summer kitchen complete with refrigerator and an enormous grill with an oven, and a hot tub.  Before we had a very small brick patio off a wooden deck with ugly railings.  I had the railings removed along with all the pressure treated wood and designed new wrap around steps to open the back deck to the back yard.  We replaced the gray and splintered wood new Treks "wood"  - cool to your feet and you never have to refinish it.

The old patio was maybe 200 sq ft and had grass growing in between the brick.  I ripped it all out and built a new 1400 sq ft patio with a 2 ft retaining wall to keep the run-off from the back yard in my basement.  The new patio is made with the "flagstone" pavers.  They are three inches thick with 6 inches of gravel and rock dust under them and polymeric sand betweeen them - I dare a weed to grow in between them!

And don't you just love that kitchen!  I have a new margarita mixer out there as well - and you know that will go to good use.

This is the construction of the "hot tub deck".  It is finished now, but I haven't taken pictures of the completed deck.

And I built a firepit for these cool autumn nights that are on their way.

Here's my hubbie grilling - you can thee the pergola off to the right.  I just had it painted white and I bought some really nice wicker furniture and a propane patio heater for it.  Hopefully if it ever stops raining, we can sit out under the stars this fall.

Now that I have been bitten by the "landscape bug" we have added a second "upper" patio with an in-gound pool.  Of course it will be November before the final phase is complete, but at least for now the bulk of the designing is finished.  Next Spring I may add a couple of walkways and put in a few new gardens since all the ones by the house had to be removed for the constuction...but that will be next year...

Anyway, I have been back in my "studio" working on a project for my nieces wedding and finishing up my "91 days of Summer" album, although I won't have 91 layouts - that is for sure.  I did manage to take a ton of pictures, and have a number of layouts (simple ones I might add) completed.

I will take some photos of and share soon....